Monday, April 30, 2007 Ryan Gamboa a no ordinary news anchor By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
THIS is Ryan Milos Romeo Mihailovich Gamboa, ABS-CBN TV Patrol Negros male newscaster, a pivot mainstay for those who have the eye for local news.
Ryan is not some guy who had the looks fitted for the after-work armchair, get me the news thing. This direct descendant of Olympia Severino-Gamboa (flag maker of the Negros Revolution), is a man of his own, smiles and blushes like a boy in person totally different from what they are expected on TV news casting, no air of combative assertion, but the revolution which his family stood for the past century runs in his meek veins and valor.
"I have my vision of what people should know but my TV profession is to strictly serve my respondents views and opinions without the prism of my subjectivity. Their story is extremely delicate, color must be delayed and suppressed otherwise it comes out totally different, worst distorted."
Wow, this young man knows his trade! "There must be a way of integrating my worldview in a particular news story. I believe, in time, this can be learned, I don't mind if this is difficult."
It is difficult to tell whether this conviction is basketball or revolution. This Negros Slasher ball shooter used lots of basketball languages, most especially "team playing" and subservience to the coach when it comes to broadcasting.
No opinion, sheer news is indeed difficult for an ilustrado unico hijo of former Vice Governor Roy and the caring Ruska, of the Silay Gamboa clan.
Why Not Politics?
"I saw how my father lost a good part of his personhood for the sake of what this thing they call good governance. My father did just that, literally traveling hills and mountains sometimes using old model vehicle in response to what our Province really need. Poverty is out there. Infrastructure projects are good but if the rural working class are not educated, these projects will not translate to productivity."
Ryan was all smile, no tinge of disappointment or regrets but the thought process is skewed away from the "eye-catching politics" of the obvious.
"The human resource is where everything else begin. This is what my father believed. Now, you don't call rural workers through the cell phone. Days and hours had to be spent talking, convincing, disagreeing, most of all receiving their hatred and the risk of being the subject of their hatred. What happened was, my father gave all of himself and ended up with somebody complaining that he is always late for work." Loud laughter filled the hall.
"That guy didn't realize we're fortunate, my father still knew the way to get home. Goodness, he gave all to empower the disenfranchised, not from government funds but from what a Vice Governor can." Ryan blushed a bit because the camera was shot, but the result was still a smile. There was that laughter again.
Will Broadcasting Do?
"I had once covered a clan of squatters among my earlier initiation to relay their complaints to a government agency. I sincerely did and thought it was successful. But look, I was serving squatters, who were not supposed to be there in the first place, yet their needs were met. They remained squatters, for how long, they couldn't care less." The Slasher center player articulated his views on social concern, at this point.
"Had it not been for broadcasting, this paradox couldn't have been known. To be poor is not a virtue. If the system perpetually respond to squatting related needs for votes purposes, this province is not going anywhere, this nation won't either."
There was a long discussion on poverty and how politics excellently perpetuate the status quo. Ryan pinned his hopes in education, the kind of education that starts from home, coming from the value systems of parents. Only such education can radiate to the bigger community where I hope an improved educational system takes the lead. Ryan lamented the scarcity of teaching social justice among classrooms. Learners are not warned of trapo politicians from the barangay to Malacañang, how they spoiled squatters. These squatters thought, squatting is all there is in life.
"They choose to be squatters, they choose to be a problem of society because they have patrons and they earn money in professionalizing squatting, if you know what I mean," Ryan reflects.
